See you this morning. And as we say often, we're thankful
to be able to be here, to have another opportunity to be able
to assemble ourselves together in the precious name of our Savior. Let's take our Bibles and turn
to the book of John chapter 3. I'd like to look at one verse
of Scripture this morning. Verse 12, John chapter 3, verse 12. Let's read verse 12 and ask our
Lord's blessing. The Lord Jesus says, If I have
told you earthly things, and you believe not, how shall you
believe if I tell you of heavenly things? Let's pray together. Our Father, it's so good to be
able to come together and to assemble ourselves in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ and to know that, Father, that our
precious Savior is here, assembling with us, living within us, seated
in the heavenlies, now interceding all the glory, realizing that
He is our all and We ask you this morning to help us. Help
us to worship. Help us to hear. Help us to see. Lord, comfort our hearts, we
pray. For Christ's sake, Amen. The Lord Jesus, speaking to the
Pharisee Nicodemus, had revealed that the power of the new birth is the Holy Spirit of God. It is by the Spirit that the
Lord said, He blows like the wind. Sovereign. Powerful. And mysterious. the wind, just no controlling
it. And the objects of God's mercy in the day that it pleases the
Lord, they're made willing, willing now to come by faith,
willing to hear Now you think about this this morning. Those
that come being regenerated by the grace of God, they want to
be here. They want to be here. I want
to hear. Wouldn't it be wonderful today
if the Lord would speak to our hearts? I'm talking about truly
that our hearts would be set aflame by the Spirit of God and
truly without any religious jargon, just I'm talking about really,
I mean it, I mean really, say it's been good to be in the house
of the Lord. And to say from a new heart,
wasn't that good? You see, I need to hear what
I'm about to preach. I need to hear this. Sometimes
I know it's easy to think, well, you know, Marvin's just sitting
there and he's already studied this. He's prepared it and he's
worked on it. But we need to hear it. No, we
need to hear it. I need to hear this. I need to
hear what is being preached. This is not my word. Paul said,
our gospel. But it's the gift of God that
gives us this glorious gospel of Christ. Nicodemus heard these things
that the Lord was saying. But he was ignorant. And do you know why men are ignorant? Now listen,
listen. Let me tell you why men are ignorant. Well, you say they're dead in
trespasses and sins. That's right. That's correct.
Yeah. But listen to this revelation
from God. They would not receive the love
of the Church. They wouldn't receive it. They didn't want
to receive it. Isn't that a mysterious thing?
Dead, can't hear, won't hear. Because they would not receive
it. You know why folks are not here
this morning? I'm talking about those that could be. I understand
there's circumstances in Providential working. I understand that. I'm
talking about those are not here because they just don't want
to be here. That's why they're not here. They just don't want
to. They just don't want to. A man must be given a new heart,
a new will, a new love, a new desire. And that is accomplished
by God Almighty alone, by the Spirit of God through the preaching
of the gospel. God Almighty must give them a
heart to come. They just don't want to. I think about years and years
and years. I didn't want to listen to this.
I'd heard it a time or two or years and years ago. It didn't
matter to me. But the Almighty God has revealed God's Spirit is going to call
God's people in time. They will come. And they're going
to hear some marvelous things. Nicodemus had heard some marvelous
things. The Lord had told him some things
that he referred to as earthly things. Earthly things. If I've told you earthly things
and you believe not. Now I'd like to consider that
for just a minute. That verse 12 right there just
seemed to just arrest my heart a few weeks ago and I got to
thinking on it. I've told you some earthly things
and you believe not. How shall you believe if I tell
you of heavenly things, earthly things that men don't believe? Now, let's just think about it
for just a minute. Nicodemus and all men born in
Adam, they come forth from their mother's womb, nobility, to believe,
no desire to believe, no heart to believe, no will to believe.
But they come forth and they hear of what the Lord said are
earthly things that they just don't believe. I've told you
some earthly things and you don't believe them. Now to enter in to what the Lord
was talking about concerning earthly things, let's just stop
for just a minute and ask ourselves this morning, what earthly things
have been set forth and man by nature, he just doesn't believe
them. Things that are pertaining to
the new birth. Now you know that this is what
the Lord has been talking to Nicodemus about. He's been talking
about you must be born again. You must be born from above. Man, he must be born of God. If he's not born again, he can't
enter into the kingdom of heaven. The wind blows as it will. You
hear the sound thereof, and you can't tell where it's coming
from, where it's going to. And Nicodemus said, How can these
things be? And the Lord said, You're a master
in Israel. You don't understand it. You,
a Pharisee, you're a teacher, and you don't understand? I told
you earthly things. And you don't believe them. Listen to these things, these
earthly things that man by nature doesn't believe concerning salvation. Now, this is some things that
men just absolutely will not believe. Earthly things. They don't believe that the preaching
of the gospel is the power of God and salvation. Now, I want
you to turn to Romans 1. We've read this so many times,
but look at it again. Romans 1. Romans 1. Now, here's an earthly thing. It's something, when I say an
earthly thing, what I'm talking about is something that can actually
at least be seen or heard with this corporal ear or actually
viewed or actually attended to while I'm in this body. I mean,
I can do it. It's an earthly thing. It's a
spiritual thing, but it's an earthly thing. You can get up. and drive to the services. You're sitting here. I mean,
it's an earthly, it's something that can be actually done in
this earthly body. It's an earthly thing. This is
what I, when I talk about the heavenly things in a minute,
you'll understand what I'm talking about, I pray, but an earthly
thing. Now listen, Romans 1, 16, 17. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for therein
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it's
written, the just shall live by faith." Now, you think about it. Now, that's
set forth in the Word of God. God's Word sets forth. The hearing
of the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Why do men not come? Why do they not listen? Why do
they not hear? Why? The Lord said, I've told
you earthly things and you don't believe. the hearing of the Gospel under
the inspiration of the Spirit of God through the Apostle Paul. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the preaching of the Gospel. There's the power of God in salvation. Therein, therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. Now you think, why would men
not say, If there is where the righteousness
of God is revealed in the preaching of the gospel of Christ, the
gospel of God's sovereign grace, salvation by no works of righteousness
that I've done, why would the congregation here not be packed?
Why would we just not have? Why is it that there would not
be people just right up everywhere? You just couldn't get them in.
They don't believe it. They just don't believe it. I've
told you earthly things and you don't believe them. Do you remember
the folks over in Berea? They were more noble, honorable. They were more noble than those
in Thessalonica because they searched the Scriptures daily
to find out if those things were so. Men and women will hear the
gospel of God's free grace and they'll hear somebody stand
there and they'll preach the gospel and they'll listen and
they'll say, now wait a minute. That goes against what I know.
It goes against what I've heard. That goes against what I've been
taught. That salvation by sovereign grace,
sovereign electing, predestinating Grace, that kind of goes against
everything that I've ever been taught, and it kind of goes against
my grain, and I'm just, I ain't going to believe that. Why do you not search the Scriptures
to see if these things are so? Why? It's an earthly thing. I've got a Bible in my hand.
I've got a Bible. It's written in English. And you know, I read a lot of
things. And a lot of times when I'm reading
those words, sometimes I don't understand every word. Or sometimes
there's a word that's used in there that doesn't exactly come
to my mind or my understanding of what exactly it was talking
about. And I'll go get a Greek or a
Hebrew dictionary and look it up. and find out. I mean, I can do that. I can
do it. I've told you earthly things.
You don't believe them. Search the Scriptures daily. The Lord said when you pray,
don't be as the hypocrites are. Don't try to make a show out
of it. Don't try to draw attention to yourself. that folks, you
know, pat you on the back and tell you how spiritual you are.
That's what makes it so hard to pray in public, I think. It's
just hard. It's hard to... But when you
pray, enter into your closet. Go somewhere private. And the Scripture says, pray
to your Father in heaven, which is in secret. Pray in secret. And just be honest. Honest with
Him. He knows. Don't try to think
that you're going to escape He who is omniscient. Why do we not spend much time
in prayer? Now, this is sad, I know. I'm
talking to all of us here. I've told you earthly things.
If I've told you earthly things and you don't believe them, how shall you believe if I tell
you heavenly things? How are you going to believe
if I tell you things that are earthly, the hearing of the gospel,
the searching of the scriptures? Daily, daily, daily. Oh, we should never let a day
go by. Never, never let a day go by
that we don't search the Scriptures. I'm not saying that we don't
do that. I'm saying we should never. And praying to our Father, asking
Him, seeking Him. I've told you earthly things.
How are you going to believe if I tell you Heavenly things. Things that I can sit and listen. I can open my Bible. I can, in
prayer, ask the Lord, would You help me? Would You speak to me? If you don't believe those things,
how are you going to believe if I tell you heavenly things? How about this? When Almighty
God revealed through the Scriptures that He has elected a people
before the foundation of the world. How am I going to believe
that? If I cannot believe these things
that are earthly, how am I going to believe things that are heavenly?
In the eternal counsel of grace, did that truly take place? Did
that, was there truly an eternal meeting of the Trinity, He who
is One? And was it truly so that Almighty
God would love me before the foundation of the world, before
He ever formed me in the belly, that He knew me and loved me? If I can't believe things that
are earthly, this shows you that even to believe earthly things,
Almighty God is going to have to give a man or woman a new
heart. You think about it. You're going to have to be born
again, Nicodemus, before you can even believe earthly things.
It's going to take a new heart for anybody to want to show up.
and hear this message over and over and over. It's going to
take a new heart to search the Scriptures. I mean a heart with
a desire. I want to know. I want to know. I'm going to take my Bible and
I'm going to open up those Scriptures. I'm going to look. I want to
know. That takes a new heart. That
takes a new birth from above. It takes a new heart to want
to pray and ask, just be honest with God. That's a new heart there. How
are you going to even do that? How are you going to do that?
If you can't do that, how are you going to believe heavenly
things? How are we going to believe when the Lord Jesus Christ, there
at Calvary, made sin? We've talked about that so many
times. What does that mean? I can enter in somewhat, and
I can talk about He was made what His people are. I know that. I don't even know the depth of
what I am. That Almighty God would truly
forsake His Son God, as Luther said, God forsaking God. If I can't believe earthly things,
how am I going to believe heavenly things? If this body, if this soul, if
this man, this life is absent from this body immediately in
the presence of God, And there's coming a time when this soul
that immediately goes to be in the bosom of Abraham, that it's
going to be reunited, that this body that was sown in corruption
is going to be raised in incorruption, sown in weakness. It's going
to be raised in power. And it will forever be with the
Lord. And as Job says, these eyes... His body, His flesh, His eyes. I'm going to see Him. I'm going
to look on Him. And I'll be with Him. Seated
with Him. Seated with Him on His throne. You will sit with Me on My throne. An heir of God and a joint heir
with Christ Or that He is due because of His obedience, faithfulness. That I'm a joint heir with Him.
What He receives, I receive in Him. If I can't believe earthly
things, how are you going to believe heavenly things? Oh, to be found in Him. And all by sovereign grace. Yeah, there are some things that
does take place on this earth in regeneration. There's some
folks, I'm convinced, sitting right here, that God's called
out of darkness. And our Lord referred in that
regenerating grace that there's some things that He referred
to concerning the new birth. that he referred to them as earthly
things. Earthly. He said, you that take
up that term, born again. Men that use that term, regeneration,
and they use it as a badge of honor. They said, I've been born
again. I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. But they don't believe the earthly
things. They don't believe that salvation
is all of grace through the hearing of the Gospel. They don't truly believe that
they need to take the Scriptures and search out and find out,
is that guy standing there, is he telling me the truth or is
he lying to me? Take your Bible. Open your Bible
up. Look in your Bible. Let God's
Word be the final authority. If you don't believe that, how
are you going to believe the heavenly things? When it comes to salvation by
grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, when sovereign
grace is spoken of, when God Almighty is to get all the glory
and honor and praise in man's redemption and conversion and
preservation, When men hear these things and they despise the gospel
of God's grace, then they don't believe the earthly things. How? If I told you earthly things
and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell
you heavenly things? Oh, may the Lord bless these
words to our heart and cause us afresh realize the necessity
of these earthly things that God is pleased to bless in the
salvation of His people and the revelation of the true heavenly
things. Amen.